T11K CREATION <>F M.l\ A.\J> \\'<>MAN. 



Odin. 



Tell me ... 

 Whence the wind conies 

 Who goes over the waves ; 

 Men do not see him. 



Vqfthrudmr. 



Hrcesvelg is called 



He who sits at heaven's end, 



A Jotun in an eagle's shape ; 



From his wings 



It is said the wind comes 



Over all mankind. 



Odin. 



Tell me. . . 



Whence the winter came, 

 Or the warm summer, 

 First with the wise gods. 



Vaftlirudnir. 



Vindsval l is called 



The lather of winter, 



And Suasud 2 the father of summer. 



Another amplification of the Creation is given in Gylfagin- 

 ning. 



Thridi said : 



" They took Ynair's skull, and made thereof the sky, and 

 raised it over the earth with four sides. Under each corner 

 they set four Dvergar, which were called Austri, East ; Vestri, 

 West ; Nordri, North ; Sudri, South. Then they took glow- 

 ing sparks that were loose and had been cast out from Muspel- 

 heim, and placed them in the midst of the boundless heaven, 

 both above and below, to light up heaven and earth ; they 

 gave resting-places to all fires, and set some in heaven ; some 

 were made free to go under heaven, but they gave them a 

 place and shaped their course. In old songs it is said that 

 from that time days and years were reckoned." 



The creation of the world, and of the heavens and planets, 

 is followed by that of the Dvergar and of man and woman, 

 who were helpless and fateless (their destinies not having been 

 spun by the Nornir) ; from these two mankind are descended. 



Then all the gods went 

 Tu their judgment-seats, 

 The most holy gods, 

 And counselled about 

 Who should create 

 The host of Dvergar 



From the bloody surf 3 



And from the bones of Blain. 



There did Modsognir 4 

 The mightiest become 

 Of all Dvergar, 



1 Wind-chilly. 



2 Sweet mood. 



3 Bloody surf means poetically the 

 sea, and the expression, the bones of 

 F.Iain, a name nowhere else mentioned in 

 the earlier Edda, seems to refer to a Hglit, 

 the record of which is lost to us. 



4 Modsognir and Durin,only mentioned 



here, refer to some lost myth. There 

 seem to have been three kinds of tribes 

 of Dvergar, having for chiefs, respectively, 

 Mudsognir, Durin, Dvalin. " Many man- 

 likenesses in the earth," namely Dvergar, 

 who are often described as living under 

 the earth. 



